1. Field of Invention
The presently claimed and disclosed inventive concept(s) relates generally to personal physiology monitoring devices and methods and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to devices, systems and software for providing ECG, heart rate and cardiac arrhythmia monitoring utilizing a computing device such as a smartphone.
2. Background of the Invention
The prior art includes numerous systems wherein ECG data or the like is monitored and/or transmitted from a patient to a particular doctor's office or health service center. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,285 discloses use of a handheld device that converts a patient's ECG signal into a frequency modulated audio signal that may then be analyzed by audio inputting via a telephone system to a selected hand-held computer device or to a designated doctor's office. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,614 discloses a heart monitor, which is manipulated by the patient to sense a biological function such as a heart beat, and outputs an audible signal to a computer microphone. The computer processes the audible signal and sends resulting data signals over a network or Internet. U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,633 discloses a heart monitor that a patient can hold against his or her chest. The device outputs an audible signal responsive to the function or condition, such as the beating of the heart, to a microphone connected to a computer. Each of these audio transmissions is limited to transmission of audible sound. In other words, frequency modulated sound transmission at carrier frequencies above that heard by humans, i.e. above 17 kHz, was not contemplated.
U.S. Pat. App. Publication No. 2004/0220487 discloses a system with ECG electrodes which sense ECG electrical signals which are combined and amplitude modulated. The composite signal is transmitted via wire or wirelessly to the sound port in a computing device. A digital band pass filter having a pass band from 19 kHz to 21 kHz is considered; however, there is no consideration of demodulation means at this frequency range using commercially available computing devices. Additionally, the use of sound waves to effect transmission is not contemplated.
U.S. Pat. App. Publication No. 2010/0113950 discloses an electronic device having a heart sensor including several leads for detecting a user's cardiac signals. The leads are coupled to interior surfaces of the electronic device housing to hide the sensor from view. Using the detected signals, the electronic device can then identify or authenticate the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,820,057 discloses a system to acquire, record, and transmit ECG data wherein the ECG signals are encoded in a frequency modulated audio tone having a carrier tone in the audio range. However, there is no real consideration of carrier frequencies above about 3 kHz, no consideration of carrier frequencies above the audible, and no consideration of demodulation methods at higher carrier frequencies.
Limitations of the prior art utilizing transtelephonic and audible acoustic signals include a signal to noise ratio that is diminished by talking or any other noisy activity in the vicinity, thus potentially jeopardizing the integrity of the heart monitoring data signals. Additionally, the audible signals can be heard by anyone in the vicinity of the computer and heart monitor, which can be bothersome to the user as well as to others in the vicinity. Other applications fail to provide a reliable, inexpensive personal monitoring device that is readily compatible with existing computing devices such as smartphones. It would be advantageous if these issues were addressed in a personal monitoring device transmitting real time physiological data.